Morgan Job to be laid to rest today

DZIFA Job, daughter of outspoken radio talk show host and former MP Dr Morgan Job, said she did not realise the impact her father had on so many lives until after he passed.

His funeral is being held at 2pm today at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Port of Spain after which there would be a private cremation.

People attending the funeral are asked to be seated by 1.45pm and to dress in blue, white or purple in keeping with Job’s desire for Trinidadians to see themselves as royalty.

Job had been diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer and died at the Port of Spain General Hospital on May 6. He was 76. He is survived by his wife Yevette Davidson and his daughters Nzinga and Dzifa Job.

Dzifa said from the many tributes her father received, which included politicians, media personalities, former co-workers and the public, “It was clear daddy meant a lot of things to a lot of people. We are only now realising how much he meant to people we never met.”

She said one woman told the family she met Job in Port of Spain and she told him she was having a hard time financially. Her father in response bought books for the woman’s children for a semester. She also said a man who listened to Job’s radio programme religiously was planning to go down a life of crime but was encouraged by Job’s statements that people should read and lift themselves.

“He said my father saved him from being a bandit.”

She said her father was the eldest of ten and, with only one sister residing in Tobago and the rest in the US and Canada, it took some time for all of them to come into the country for the funeral.

“We wanted to make sure they got a chance to say goodbye. He was everything to them. He was their eyeball. He supported and kept the family together.”

She said her father took care of his mother, Elvira, who died from cancer a couple years ago, and was there when his father, Orban, died five years ago. Asked how the family was coping, Dzifa said they were doing the best they can.

“It is all any family can do. You take it one step at a time, try to get it done. Some more organised than others and can function. Some are not. It is all part of the grieving.”

Job said there was a limited number of programmes being printed for the funeral but it would also be available for download from the Belgroves funeral home website. The funeral is also being presented via live stream for people who had submitted their email addresses. Proceeds of the offering collected during the service will be donated to the John E Sabga Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer, and the Adult Literacy Tutors Association.

Job said her father’s books were still for sale from the family and she can be contacted at dzifanjob@gmail.com.